ABOUT
Actor | Writer | Producer | Artistic Swimmer
Philicia Saunders is an American actress of Jamaican parentage. She is best known for her role as Tabala Zo in the Star Wars Universe, The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. Born in Los Angeles, her early formal education nurtured her interest in the performing arts.
Philicia attended Princeton University where she participated in live theater performances, and as her senior thesis project she presented a solo performance of Anna Deavere Smith’s one-woman show, Fires in the Mirror.
Philicia completed a master’s degree program in acting at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. At UCLA, she appeared in many stage productions, including William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine and Noël Coward’s Hay Fever. She also attended the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England with an emphasis on classical acting and Shakespeare. In addition, she attended the Guthrie Experience for graduate actors in training in Minneapolis, MN.
She started her professional career in acting when she made her STAGE debut at Ark Theater in Los Angeles as Hermia in William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. She went on to portray Portia with the Independent Shakespeare Company in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Muriel/Ensemble with A Noise Within Theatre which won “Best Ensemble Performance” with the Drama Critics Circle in 2022, and Katie with the Fountain Theatre in the U.S. Premiere of I, Daniel Blake.
Her FILM debut started with a series of featured roles in 88 Soul, Don’t Let Her Pull you Down, Blaxican Brothers, The Doctor of Bagram, Enhanced, Sleight, and Straight Outta Compton. She has appeared in film with supporting and lead roles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Mercy, Forelock, Black is King, Glitch, Alex, He’s Watching, and Poe.
Her TELEVISION credits include guest star and co-star roles in The Morning Show, 9-1-1, S.W.A.T, How I Met Your Father, Loot, Jupiter’s Legacy, Side Hustle, Shameless, REL, Speechless, and Strange Angel.
Philicia is a competitive synchronized swimmer and she volunteers with local children’s theater groups in Los Angeles.